Limb Lengthening Forum

I have been eagerly awaiting your return, hoping for an "Arabian Nights" experience . 

Hey [various people], thanks for the concern, y'all. Hand Sanitizer was only partially right. I was getting tired of all the ill-informed, speculating feckless fkholes making sh!t up, but that in itself was not enough to make me go dark. In all honesty, the main issue was time. Unlike almost every external patient about whom I have read, I brought much of my work life with me to India. And I have not just a regular "day job", but I run a business as well....a business that had a major event I was working on (remotely) from Gurgaon...on my laptop...while in frames (and after removal, too). You should have seen the reactions from the staff and other patients when they saw the amount of luggage I had, stuffed with equipment (and tubs of protein, Exogens I got on ebay for a couple guys, and various phasers and tricorders). [When I arrived at the Delhi airport-- not knowing each other yet, no local cell phone, and teeny-tiny bandwidth free airport Wifi for Skype -- it was a prolonged debacle, as Sunny kept ignoring the guy with 4 suitcases...because he thought it couldn't possibly have been a patient LOL.] So those career demands on my time/attention, plus the daily PT, keeping in touch with friends/fam/fiancé via Skype, and just needing a modicum of time to chill/decompress/watchTV-movies-porn to get away from the miserable existence of living in a crappy guest house halfway around the world from home while trapped in medieval torture devices.

I guess I should have said something about checking out before I did...only I hadn't really intended to just disappear. You may have gleaned from reading me that I'm pretty much an all-or-nothing type of person. So I kept telling myself I would go back, but my intense OCD was telling me that if I didn't have time to do it right (meaning FakerStyleTM), that I shouldn't do it  at all. Damn, I talked myself into a circle again.

Anyway, sorry I worried y'all. It's nice to have been missed (plus take this as an explanation/justification for if/when it happens next time)  

February 27, 2014 (Thursday)

One of our LL brothers was leaving the next day, and he hadn't really gotten to see anything in India besides the airport, the guest house, and two hospitals, so we planned a night of sightseeing in Delhi. Staring at the same walls for months on end, we were all pretty psyched to just get the f*ck OUT. That afternoon, I had finally found a way to deal with the boredom of doing the stationary bike -- by grabbing a pair of Vic Firths and playing super-hyped air drums to my fave playlists while pedaling -- so I had 90 minutes of the best workout the guest house could possibly provide me. And riding that surge of endorphins, I was feeling better that evening than I had since getting the frames put on December 17th. Isn't it ironic...dontcha think? [in hindsight, anyway]

One guy was feeling crappy, another didn't want to venture out in frames, so the remaining four patients, two caretakers, two PTs, and the assistant guest house manager piled into a couple cars and headed off to Delhi, bringing a wheelchair and two wheeled office chairs in the trunks. We drove by Embassy Row, then took a circle of Connaught Place:


Then we stopped at The India Gate. After that night I can definitively tell you this: one LL patient in public is a curiosity. Two are a rather bizarre sideshow. Four guys with bilateral fractures (2 of them in frames), a wheelchair, a couple of office chairs, a pair of crutches and five assorted attendants is the whole three-ring f.ucking circus.

We wheeled around the Gate for a while, with all the "WTF" stares and people pointing and quizzical looks one would expect. While we mostly kept to our group, our resident social butterfly kept getting into conversations with random groups of people. Mr. Butterfly bought some of the street food and offered me a bite. Curious, it tried it [Ruh Roh?] It wasn't very cold out or anything, and we were not outside for more than an hour probably. But on the way home, one of us patients got seriously nauseated. It wasn't me, but [Warning Sign?]

As had become the routine for our farewell sendoffs, we had ordered a couple cakes from a bakery for the pitiful little party at the house. [Bad idea?] So those were awaiting us at "home". We also stopped on the way back to order some dinner from Schwarma House. [Fatal Mistake?] Hey, it's good enough for The Avengers, right?

Finally getting back to the Guest House, my legs felt like they had doubled in size...and not in the intended way. All that sitting in the car just gave me the feeling that I had a couple boulders attached at the knees. Getting inside, we had another one of our Pitiful Parties, sans booze this time. Schwarma Schwarma, Cake Cake, Pictures Pictures, etc etc. Nothing really tasted weird or felt "off", but [F*ck, This Is not Going To End Well, Is It?]

The next morning, I was half-delirious when my buddy stopped in to say goodbye before leaving for the airport [for his flight back to...um, let's say..."Namibia". Or you pick a country. It's Mad Libs Diary Day]. I was coherent enough to say goodbye, but all I really remember about the rest of that day was feeling f*cking FREEZING COLD. Then BURNING UP...then freezing again...then burning...lather, rinse, repeat. I remember Harry giving me a thermometer that day (Friday) and it read like 99-something, so I didn't think it was gonna be a major thing. That night was mostly delirium, but I do distinctly remember looking out the window and seeing Martin Luther King juggling some chainsaws while riding a unicorn across our backyard.

On Saturday morning, I took my temp again and it was 104.3. One Hundred F.ucking Four Point F.ucking Three. In my life experience, that's not a body temperature, that's the goddamn frequency for an Oldies radio station! Harry got me into a car and we went to Paras Hospital to see an internist. He asked a few questions, took temp and BP, and wrote a few scrips. About the same as one would get at a busy county hospital in a low-income area of the US. The humongous difference though? I paid in cash. The amount? Six hundred rupees (about NINE BUCKS! YOU CAN SUCK IT OBAMACARE! And the prescriptions were only SIX BUCKS! YOU CAN SUCK IT TOO, BIG PHARMA!). We ran into Dr. Sringari in the hallway and he ribbed me in his usual affable, jovial way: "Not feeling good? Too much party? Heheh" Not the biggest show of concern, but he would kinda redeem himself later on.

The next 36 hours of that weekend I would not wish on anyone. Interspersed amongst the constant cycle of freezing-to-death and burning-up came (it seemed) hourly trips to our (already disgusting) bathroom [I told y'all how my roommate and I had to share it with the 5 live-in and 3 daytime staff guys, right? Not to mention the upstairs patients who came down to workout/hang out] Anyway, I was in that f*cking hole so much I should have just brought my pillow and blanket. QUESTION: if it's called "The Runs" when you have two functional legs, whaddaya call it when you have to scoot yourself around on a rolly-chair? "The Wheels"? "The Scoots"? "The LL Intestinal Hell Shuffle"? Sunday morning, I took a chance that I could stomach food for the first time since that night of the party, so I took a bite of breakfast. For some reason, our chef Kishoor had decided to pack his normally decent egg salad sandwiches with enough incredibly-pungent Indian onions to brings tears to the eye...the eye of a f.ucking hurricane. I spit that sh!t up so fast, it made vapor trails coming out of my mouth. One small grace was that week stayed pretty much vomit-free.

I thought the fever "broke" (that's what Moms say, right?) on Monday, but the normalcy I briefly felt, cycled back into alternating burning-up and freezing-cold yet again that night. I had taken all of the fever meds they had given me Saturday (OK, so maybe I just got what I paid for with that six bucks), so I made do with Tylenol (and whiny calls to fam and fiancé back home). By Wednesday, I still was not much better, so I got schlepped to the hospital again. This time, a different internist came down to Doc Sringari's secondary office for my exam and checked me out there. Dr. Sringari sat in on this one, asking InternistGuy some questions, seeming involved -- pretty much making up for our previous meeting -- and maintaining the impression I already had: that he's ostensibly a caring doctor. But he was also concurrently working on a PowerPoint presentation about OSHA stuff for his new venture...so that went right along with the impression we had been developing that he's an impossibly BUSY doctor.

Had blood and piss tests taken, plus sent home with a container for the TestThatShallNotBeNamed. Had to pay around INR5000 for everything, plus the taxi. Harry had paid for the car the first time and said I was to foot the bill this second time, but I just gave him the money for both. Whether it had been paid for by him personally or the Guest House budget, Faker don't like owin' nobody for nuthin'. That third goddamn lab test was just a horror. First attempt was accidentally thrown away by (caretaker) Deepu when he was cleaning. Couldn't f.ucking BELIEVE I had to do it again. Sunny, probably going way beyond the call of an Assistant House Manager's duty, took that doodoo sample -- that I put inside a Ziplock in another Ziplock in another bag in another bag in a cardboard box -- off to Paras...on his motorcycle LOL. That's some sh!tty f*cking work, right there (try THAT, Mike Rowe!). He picked up some meds to replace a pack I lost, too. Say what you will about Sunny -- there have been so many accusations and things surrounding him that we have heard about. Personally, he always got me anything I asked for -- this laptop, ATM withdrawals, leg covers, internet service -- in a prompt manner. I know some of our guys had mad issues with him while there -- and I kept those in at the back of my mind -- but it's hard to accept things so contrary to one's personal experience, joono?

As usual, this story started its life as a leaflet (in my head) and has evolved into my typical tome. Soooooooo, by the eighth day of the ordeal, I FINALLY started to turn the corner and was back to life that next weekend (March 8/9). I had stopped lengthening the first few days I was sick, the only days (besides the day before frame removal) that I didn't turn since my first mm on Christmas. Pretty ironic that whatever did cause that f*cked-up experience in India, it's probably only there in India that I would have been able to have a staff of caretakers around 24/7 to help me out while I was sick. Being laid up like that here at home, I would have been by myself most of the day. The moral of this excessively long tale?...um...well...let's see...OK, I got it!: Don't hang out with guys from [Namibia]. They'll always try to f.ucking poison you before they skip town.

Holy   thats rough.   

You have had it hardddd man. That would be a nightmare outcome, although not as bad as crimson. Atleast it's still fixable but still ...pretty bad considering how long it has been since initial surgury. 

I really hope you get well soon man. I think ocean(I think it was ocean) also had a bonegraft done. He made a post about it and his malunion was fixed in no time.

Do you think if you took plenty of vitamin d supplements it may have been avoided. I am not expert but I think your body can't absorb as much calcium without vitamin d either

First I have to preface this post by reminding anyone reading that this is a different type of LL blog. There are a plethora of great diaries out there and -- if you want griping, and complaining; debating about ballerina, X-legs and proportions; and all the stupid sh!t people say about this doctor and that doctor -- there are about seven million other places I could point you to for that. What I try to do when I write is an alternate, dare-I-say holistic type of discourse, from my perspective as a guy with 4 broken bones in his legs.

So I'm rather devastated this week. It was already rough enough dealing with visiting family, SEVERAL work deadlines, my regular PT and gym workouts, and fending off occasional trolls...or trollish-type people. And then hearing the news of Prince's passing Thursday...well, it took something extraordinary for me to climb out of my hole and post again this week.


Here was an itty-bitty little man, just 5'2" feet tall and maybe 130 pounds...and yet a legend, an icon who ruled (pun intended) his industry. Someone who had garnered the admiration and adulation of tens of millions around the world.

And, I wasn't going to get into this particular aspect until much later on, but I see so many posts and topics and discussions about needing height for attracting women. I really don't think getting taller should just be about getting women. I mean, I can understand it being perhaps a partial motivation, but it shouldn't be your main overall reason. God, I truly hope no one is doing that.

Prince showed us how a small, slightly-built guy could make the hottest women on Earth just drool. Maybe you don't have incredible talents, wealth, charisma and magnetism of His Purpleness...OK, so you'd probably never have shot at a young Carmen Electra or Apollonia or Vanity (RIP as well) in their prime. But if you exude even one one-thousandth of that confidence, some of the "I-don't-give-a-f.uck"-ness (^TMBigfaker) -- that was so obvious in his music, his style, his demeanor -- maybe you can get the cutie at the coffee shop down the street to give you her number.

It's not just with da ladies that your attitude will get you places. Yes, this is the f.ucking internet, but still, so many people go around with just the worst energy...whether it's the the paranoia, the negativity, the need to race-bait. Have you ever looked at any comments on YouTube? It's a goddamn freak show. Anyway, my belabored point is -- no matter your height -- if you carry yourself with class and confidence; an egalitarian heart and a magnanimous spirit; you'll be amazed how many more doors open for you than if you walk around pissed off at God and The World.

Like I said, this was already a tough week....and now one of my heroes, one of my inspirations, is gone. But after this brief mourning, there'll be little wallowing in sorrow. When we lose people that influence us -- whether family, role models, or idols -- I think it's the best tribute we can make just to live our lives, incorporating their messages, their lessons, or their love...and feeling fortunate for having been touched by them.

Hey big,

Thanks for the update. How is the new nail feeling like compared to the old? And by when do you think you will be able to see evident regeneration.

Hey big,

Thanks for the update. How is the new nail feeling like compared to the old? And by when do you think you will be able to see evident regeneration.

Yeah, I’m doing really well, Spartan. Thanks. The new nail feels really good! The only pain I have right now is skin/soft tissue irritation mid-tibia where the locking screw was removed.

I already started walking (with partial weight, in the Alter-G treadmill) on Monday and have done so three times this week. Been to the gym a bunch of times as well, but only doing upper body stuff...well...some single leg rowing, too. I have veeeery lightly and gingerly stepped around the house without crutches, but I don't go very far, just moving between furniture and counters.

Not sure when I will see growth. Between the graft, the reaming for the new nail, and the crapload of Vitamin D I'm taking, I'm hope SOME-thing kicks it in gear! I had asked the doc in my consultation when I could have the nails removed and he thinks a year is definitely possible.

More details later...

How many CM did you do?

What was your starting height and how much did you lengthen?

hey Bigfaker,

those look like some nasty scars. :/

any theories surrounding why your bones didn't consolidate?

man i must say your diary is awesome!
very informative and you got me really cracking up a couple of times. 

but i think due to the suspense it got really confusing till the end.
all i would like to know is that its been 2 and a half years since your operation and are you in perfect health after so much time?

also what were the complications that occurred (at what time exactly) during the journey and what was the total costs that you have spent till now?

and have you been able to determine the "exact" height you gained, is there any discrepancy in the end?

i know its a lot  but would really appreciate your feedback! these facts are important!

Hey, fightforit.
Thanks for reading and for the questions.

but i think due to the suspense it got really confusing till the end.

Yeah, sorry. Though I try to do a somewhat intelligible translation between the chaotic torrent of thoughts in my skull and the collection of words that eventually appear online, it's not easy. First, I am not always able to describe things in a chronological...or even linear fashion. To compound the issue, I still feel like I should fill in the huge gap of time from the middle of my lengthening up to this year...if not to recount the successes and difficulties, then just for posterity's sake.

all i would like to know is that its been 2 and a half years since your operation and are you in perfect health after so much time?

I think you missed my post on April 20th of this year. Since the bone graft/revision nailing (May 12), things have gotten better progressively and rapidly. I have videos, but I haven't figured how I'm gonna unleash this flood of multimedia. I think I'll do it chronologically, to ease the confusion I mentioned above. I'll probably start posting links tonight or tomorrow...but to your (and everyone's) probable frustration, I won't get to posting this year's videos until the end of the week.

also what were the complications that occurred (at what time exactly) during the journey and what was the total costs that you have spent till now?

There was one issue (a bump, I thought) during lengthening, which I was REALLY worried about, that turned out to be nothing. So it's not so important right now...I'm thinking about describing it later.

The R ankle complication and partial non-union in the L tibia, I've written about at length.

and have you been able to determine the "exact" height you gained, is there any discrepancy in the end?

i know its a lot  but would really appreciate your feedback! these facts are important!

Still a little gray in this area...what most would call the most important area, but whatever. I remember my measurement of 5'5^1/4" (stadiometer) was in the afternoon and the time my friend measured me at 5'5" (box method) was in the evening. I lengthened between 7.3 and 7.8cm, depending on which measurement. When I got home (June 2014), I was pretty disheartened, as I initially thought I had only gained about 2.5", but when I went to a doctor's appointment this year, they measured me at 173cm (~5'8^1/4")!!! And yes, before you ask, I did keep a consistency by always measuring without shoes, similar thickness socks, standing up upright as possible, etc.

I really don't mind you or anyone asking "a lot". I remember I was just as bewildered as anyone when I first considered LL back in 2012. When people help you, pay it forward. Even if you feel self-made in life (definitely not myself), help somebody who hasn't been as fortunate as you. Altruism is the very simple answer to saving this world...but too few have considered it, and even fewer ever try to practice it.

And with that, I'm off to jack these fools and then go smack up mah b!tches. 

The real difficulty in transferring what I want to say -- what I mean to say -- to this diary is the sheer volume. I think what I may lack is a filter.

Something I meant to bring up last month was this:

This was the nail I had removed on May 12th of this year. It took a while for me to get it back from the hospital, as it had to go through Pathology...along with my biopsy, which came back with no issues, no infection. And all that worry I had about damaging it and/or the screws by walking on it too soon (with no callus in the front) was for nothing.


I had always thought that the nails in my tibias were Synthes, but Dr. Sringari told me recently that though he usually uses them, he opted for this brand ("SSEPL" is what's engraved on it) on me because of my weight. Over WhatsApp, he told me:
It's a very good make gets imported also
In fact I have seen problems with the synthes nail sometimes...But not with this one

Anyway, as you can see, everything is perfectly intact and good-as-new...hey, anybody wanna buy a used titanium nail? No? I'll just put it on eBay, then.

Something else from the last chapter: not that anybody cares, but for accuracy's sake, I messed up my final x-ray and CT dates a bit. I figured that out when I found this Progress Ruler from right after frame removal:


I guess next, I'll need to add my final height gained....whenever I figure out exactly what that is. LOL

man i must say your diary is awesome!
very informative and you got me really cracking up a couple of times.  

but i think due to the suspense it got really confusing till the end.
all i would like to know is that its been 2 and a half years since your operation and are you in perfect health after so much time?

So this last question, along with my urge to post my new/current walking videos has brought my constant conundrum -- my real pesky writing problem -- back to the surface. It seems like some people are not able to follow what's happened to me because of the gaps in time. Seriously y'all, just look at the post dates. If I list some date in the chapter, that supersedes the post date.
But to help you guys out a little, when I jump way back, you'll see this:


ANY-way, [*cue drumroll*] as I promised, my first walking videos, from just after frame removal in 2014. Well actually, I don't really call this walking. This stage, I deemed "hobbling".

AGAIN, because so many people get confused -- seriously, I still get PMs asking if I'm still in INDIA(!) -- this is from over TWO YEARS AGO! "Flashback" means we're getting in the Doc Brown's DeLorean and gunning it up to 88; we're taking the Enterprise on a slingshot course around the sun; Superman is flying around the Earth to save his (strangely unattractive) lady love Lois Lane from the earthquake.

As if I haven't belabored it enough, since I only tagged the month and day on these first few vids, let me just denote as explicitly as I can:

Those last three walking videos were shot in India. This next one is the first after I got home...also the first showing the utter ooey-gooey awesomeness that is the Alter-G treadmill.